Stay alert
by Tom Stiles
Summary: You would think you're safe...but better think twice -watch out, this might actually be rated R
1. A rainy afternoon

The afternoon had been cold and rainy. So now that the sun finally came out there was some fog caught in the trees above the girls head. She had been sitting there for a while staring out across the empty wet street. Her black hooded jacket was wet and clung to her body like a second skin. Still she stared out taking an occational drag from her cigarette. Most of the others were busy with something. She wouldn't even call them friends. Just the others. Something had happened. She had changed. A lot actually. Before, she didn't give a damn. She had had a crush on Stan for a while but it went by and now she was by herself again. All of a sudden she cared about them though. Why was she thinking about them? It wasn't like they did care.  
  
Noise from the other side of the street made her listen up. Squeeking tires, some stinky rubber left on the street despite the wet film.  
  
Stokely turned her head just enough to see the black car do a 180 turn on the empty parking lot of the school library. Of course, she immediately recognised it. She looked away again trying to get back into her own little world but the joyful scream, which came out the open window besides the radio blasting, was too hard to ignore. She rolled her eyes. Why was he doing this? It wasn't like he could show off with nobody around. No other guys or girls to impress and he usually didn't want to impress anybody at all.  
  
The roar of the engine filled the air before the car spun around once more and then came to a sudden halt.  
  
Zeke caught his breath. This was great. What an adrenalin rush. You could only do those kind of spins on a wet road and he was just so in the mood for it. It had been a really good day. He'd skipped almost every class, done well at football and just loved the rain right now. Slowly his breath calmed down and a grin appeared on his face. This was better than anything he'd done in a while. He felt wild and free. Satisfied he leaned back in his seat and stared out the window, when he spotted somebody sitting down the road in a distance. First he thought it was Casey, cause that would be a thing he would do. Sit out in the rain and take pictures. Zeke turned the music down and slowly stared the car again. He drove off the parking lot, very tempted to do another spin. About 300 meters down the road he slowed down and looked out the side window just to recognise the person sitting there all soaked. "Stokely." He raised his eyebrows. The girl looked away. She didn't feel like talking to him or anybody else. "Can I give you a ride or something?" Stokely waited a few seconds before she actually looked at him but she didn't say a word. Couldn't he see that if she didn't want to be there, she would have left before she had gotten drenched. Zeke was still in an unusually good mood and told himself, he should care. After all they had saved the world together. "Stokes, c'mon." "What's it to you?" she stared at him with her black mascara on her cheeks- washed away by the rain. Zeke gave her a long, intense look. For a moment he looked at his hands thinking before he got out of the car, just leaving it right there on the road. Then he sat down next to her. He was still wearing his football pants and shirt, which were dirty and wet as well. For a minute there was just silence. Nothing but a few last drops dripping of the leaves of the tree. A sun beam shone through the clouds as if to point at a secret spot where some gold was hidden, Zeke thought. Doh! His fantasy was going wild. Secret gold?? But then again, nothing is impossible. Not even aliens invading Herrington High. Stokely looked at him from the side:" What are you doing here?" "I don't know. What are you doing here?" She took a deep breath: "Nothing. I like it." She couldn't help but shiver a little. Zeke gave her a glance from the side as if to say:" Yeah, sure." Then he placed his hand on her back to give her a little bit of a push and mumbled:"C'mon." She gave him a tired look. A warm car actually didn't sound too bad-even if it was Zeke, who was driving. So she nodded and got up. Soon they found themselves on the road. Zeke grabbed a pack of cigarettes and pulled one out with his lips before he passed the pack on to his passenger. She shook her head:"Thanks." Zeke lit his one regardless and took a deep breath. Stokely watched the trees fly by before Zeke blew his smoke into her direction and clouded her. She turned and stared at him, when she spotted the slight smile playing across his lips. He was teasing her:" Where do you wanna go?" So he didn't wanna drop her off. Good thing, she thought, cause at home there was only trouble waiting. Her mother and her boyfriend had gotten into another one of their fights, which she really didn't wanna get involved in. "Get something to eat?" "Sure." Zeke mumbled. It took them about 10 minutes to drive down the main road of the town with it's little shops, Wendy's, Taco Bells and Popeyes. Zeke didn't stop. Instead he turned off the main road and followed a road leading up to the nicer, small houses in town. Stokely knew he was driving home to his place and wondered whether she should say something. "I make not only the best home-made scat but also great scrambled eggs." he explained. With a slightly teasing tone, he added:" Do you mind?" A rather hateful look was the answer although she didn't really mean it. When Zeke pulled into the drive, the rain started falling again. It actually got so hard that they had to run to the door, where they found cover under a small roof. While Zeke opened the door, Stokely wondered what on earth she was doing here with him. Nevertheless she stepped inside. Out of all the people she trusted him. Zeke stopped next to her for a moment and looked at her. Then he leaned forward and said: "Don't worry." Stokely looked back into his brown eyes and then nodded: "Why should I?" "Exactly." Zeke threw his backpack next to the couch in the living room, took his shoes off and walked into the kitchen: "C'mon over here. What kind of food do you like?" While she follwed him into the kitchen, she looked around the house. It wasn't super tidy but not in bad shape. It was actually kind of homy. She liked the colours. Yellow walls and dark red couch, some orange,too. It looked almost Mexican. What was wrong with her? Since when did she like bright colours? Zeke had opened the fridge and was now more or less hanging in the open door inspecting what was left in there:"How bout....oh ok, got it." He quickly grabbed eggs, onions, tomatoes, toast and cheese from the fridge. Stokely watched him put butter in a pan, chop and fry onions and tomatoes before adding toast, cheese and last but not least eggs. Who would have thought Zeke could cook. But then again, how would he survive without a mother around. Then again he was so lean and lanky that one could think all he ever had was a sandwich every once in a while. Suddenly she got goosebumps. She had forgotten to take her wet coat off. Quickly she placed it on the heater next to the window and looked outside. Rain was running down the small windows and the world outside had turned grey again. "You can take a shower and warm up, if you want to." Despite her shivers, she actually started feeling good. Almost comfortable. She knew Zeke well enough to know he wouldn't try anything and, despite what she had thought, he seemingly did care. "You don't mind?" "No, go ahead." She nodded: "Ok. Thanks." Then she went off. Zeke grinned slightly. Why was she so worried? It wasn't like they had just met. After all they'd know each other for a while and he actually considered her one of his friends. At least since the invasion. He threw a glance out the window as well. It was nice not to be alone. Most times he didn't mind but today he just felt like having company. Stokely locked the bathroom door. Before she got undressed she turned the hot water on. Then she quickly dropped her wet clothes to the floor. While she was waiting for the water to heat up, she inspected Zeke's bathroom. It was a typical men's bathroom. Toothpaste, toothbrush, electric raisor, speedstick and some gel. That's it. Soon hot fog filled the whole bathroom and Stokely enjoyed the warm water. It felt good, reviving and tiring at the same time washing away most of her black make up. She relaxed and enjoyed. Only when she grabbed a towel did she realize that she would have to get back into her wet clothes. "Fuck." she mumbled. A gaze around the room told her there was nothing she could borrow, so she wrapped herself in the big towel, opened the door and tiptoed outside almost falling over the pair of sweats and long sleeve shirt he had placed in front of the door. When she walked back into the kitchen, Zeke laughed at her. She grinned as well: "Doesn't really fit. You're too tall...or I'm to small." He handed her a plate: "Maybe you'll grow some more when you eat something." "Thanks,that's....nice." He sat down as well and started eating. Butter, eggs, fried onion, mmhhh. Stokely really enjoyed it. It was so simple but good. She looked around the room and listened to the sound of the rain dripping on the roof: "Why are you doing this?" His eyes met hers: "What do you mean?" "We don't hang out together all that much, you know." "Yeah, maybe we should. I like some company...no wrong. Acvtually I like your company." She squinted. Had he just really said that? "Why?" "Because you are who you are. You're not pretentious. You don't wanna please people!" She now practically stared at him. But Zeke just kept on eating: "That's what I like about Casey, too." "You like Casey?" "Well, he's not my best buddy. But yeah, I like him." "Cool." They kept on eating. "And besides. It's nice to have somebody around sometimes." "Yeah." Stokely agreed. "Somebody, who doesn't think you're crazy." When they were finished, Zeke went to take a shower and told his friend to do whatever she pleased. She decided to turn on the TV and lay on the couch. She could hear the shower. After a while it was turned off and Zeke came back. He had put on his shirt and old baggy jeans again. He rubbed his head dry with a towel leaving his hair sticking up while he came over to the sofa. Stokely smiled, yes she actually smiled: "That's why you look like that! You don't have a comb." Zeke grinned: "I do-but I don't use it." He sat down next to her and reached for the chips on her lap: "What are you watching?" "Oh, just a dumb show." He munched and watched while Stokely could feel herself getting more and more at ease next to him. She eyed him from the side. Strange, here she was watching TV with Zeke. Stan came to her mind. Where was he, what was he doing? Did he think of her? Whatever. She looked back at the TV. The sound of the rain, that kept falling onto the roof, slowly made them tired. After two bowls of chips, and 2 hours of boring quizzshows, Zeke had fallen asleep. Stokely barely could keep her eyes open. She fought hard not to fall asleep but she also didn't wanna leave. She didn't want to go home and on top of that, she just liked being around Zeke. May it sound as strange as it does.  
  
She couldn't remember actually having fallen asleep but when she woke up, her cheek pressed onto a unfamiliar smelling fabric, she realised that she must have fallen asleep. Drousily she opened her eyes. The first thing that came in focus was the red of the couch lit up by the canging colours of the TV. Then she lifted her head slightly just to see that she had spread herself all across the sofa leaving only a small gap for Zeke, whose leg she had used as a pillow. When she realised that she cursed: "Shit!" and sat up quickly. He shifted but didn't wake up. Now was the time to sneak out. Stokely could feel her heart beating in her neck. Whether it was from sitting up so fast or from the tension she could feel, she didn't know. She wanted to leave but then again she didn't. Zeke slowly woke up but didn't open his eyes. He remembered that Stokely was there. Then he could feel somebody placing something on his leg. Slowly he opened his eyes to see that his friend had put her head back onto it. She looked at him. Their eyes met. This time she didn't avoid his eyes. She looked at him-almost like a cat. Like a cat, who's about to purr any minute. Then she smiled: "Hey." Zeke simply looked back. It wasn't possible for her to say what the expression on his face meant. Was he confident or uncomfortable or ...? She just looked back and studied his face, his nose, eyes, chin.... Right now he seemed so different. So relaxed-almost a nice guy. Almost. He still had that air of a rebel about him but suddenly she found that attractive. And Zeke obviously could read her expression a lot better than she could read his. He whispered: "You look better with no make up on." Stokely raised an eyebrow:" Oh yeah?" he wanted to play? Alright. So she quickly shot out: "I bet you look better with no clothes on!" Woah! Where had that come from, both of them asked themselves. Zeke's expression changed from disbeleive to a grin: " Think so?" She had thrown it in. It was either take it back or leave it out in the open and see what happens and so she did. Stokley nodded. Despite the fact that she never acted like this, she couldn't deny that she sometimes wanted to and right now she was in a real teasy mood and Zeke seemed the perfect target. Not only did he suddenly strike her as very hot but also was she for the first time in a position to actually play these kind of games. He obviously liked her enough to invite her, now she had to test the water. What next? Slowly she crawled a little closer. Zeke watched her come closer until she was more or less on top of him. Their body's were barely touching cause she had her whole body weight on her hands on either side of Zeke. A hint of insecurity was visible in her usually so couldn't-care-less expression. Zeke gave her a tiny smile before he carefully placed his hand on her back. Stokely looked him in the eyes and right that moment temptation got the better of her. Qucikly she lowered herself onto him and kissed him. For a moment Zeke didn't seem to join in. That was because he was actually surprised that she would do it. For a split second he was contemplating whether he should reply the kiss or not. Whether he wanted to be kissed by her or not. It didn't take much longer for him to figure out that he would like this...her. So he softly carressed her lips with his tongue, slowly sucked on her lower lip and turned his head up to fully join in the kiss, that got more passionate. He ran his fingers up her back towards her neck, while Stokely's heart seemed to race. She hadn't even thought about kissing somebody for a long time, and least of all Zeke. But now he was all she ever wanted. For a moment she pulled away to look him in the eye. He looked back at her flushed face before he softly kissed her cheek, neck and lips again. The innocent kiss quickly turned into a wild, passionate sucking, licking, hugging, stroking and turning, which almost send them off the couch. Stokely's fingers slowly wandered along his side, down towards his belly button. When she pulled the shirt out of his pants and rested her hand on his stomache, she could hear him blow out some air. He kissed her cheek again and started nibbling on her ear, urging her to go on. Stokely could feel a hot rush. She traced her fingers up and down his chest before slipping them into his pants. Now Zeke couldn't suppress a soft moan. He ran his hands up her back and under her shirt as well, careful not to miss the sweet sensation she gave him. When she pulled her hand out of his pants, he drew her close, pressing her body against his. He could feel her shape against his body. And she could very clearly feel his shape. What a wonderful, hot feeling. She moved slowly up and down, just enough to cause them both to heat up even more. Zeke had his eyes closed but no problem finding her lips and a way to take her shirt off. She let him. He opened his eyes again and looked her in the face. Softly he whispered: "You're beautiful." And she beleived him and gave him one of those rare smiles before she pulled off his shirt. Her fingers twitched when she reached to the left and right side of his hips for his pants and slowly pulled them down. Only seconds later, she had taken off her own sweats and layed down on top of Zeke again, pressing her naked body against his...  
  
The constant sound of the rain on the roof was now mixed with the dripping of the tab, which hadn't been properly turned off. Zeke breathed the air from the open window, while he was laying on his bed, with Stokely in his arms, both only lightly covered by a sheet. Her steady breathing told him she was asleep. The air coming in the open widnow smelled of rain. It was nice and fresh. Zeke usually didn't pay much attention to things like that but today he did. This truly was a good day.  
  
(I kinda jumped into the deep end with this one and hope it doesn't offend anybody or get banned. Please R&R) 


	2. A typical day at Herrington High

Thanks to those of you who read and reviewed my first chapter.  
  
The sound of an alarm clock with annoying loud music woke Casey up. Was it really already morning? Slowly he opened one eye and lifted his head to throw a glance at his clock. Yep, 7.45 am. Sleepily he rubbed his tired head leaving a few locks standing in different directions before he got dressed and made his way down to the kitchen where he was welcomed by the delicious smell of bacon and eggs.  
  
His father sat at the table reading the paper, while he shoved the food in his mouth without even noticing it.  
  
"Morning, Casey. Would you like some eggs?" his mother asked.  
  
"Sure." Casey mumbled, while he poured himself a cup of coffee and slowly sipped it. Slumping on the table, he read the headlines on the front page of his dad's newspaper.  
  
On the bottom of the left side it said: "City pool closed until further noticed." Casey's eyes stuck to the lines for a second before he told himself that not everything that had to do with water was automatically bad. He forced himself not to ask his father for the paper in order to read what was wrong with the pool but instead got up, grabbed his bag and left leaving his confused mother behind.  
  
She only heard him mumble: "Gotta catch the bus..late."  
  
Delilah leaned on the wall of the hallway watching Stan grab his books from his locker.  
  
"So are you gonna see the film tonight?" he asked.  
  
She nodded, while she looked uninterestedly down the hallway.  
  
"With Casey?" he enquired further.  
  
"Maybe, dunno."  
  
"What you mean, you don't know. He's your boyfriend, isn't he?"  
  
Delilah gave Stan an annoyed look and left him standing there just to catch up with a few of her cheerleading girlfriends.  
  
Stan could her here across the hallway: "It's so good to see you. You can't believe how annoying ex-boyfriends can be." Stan couldn't believe it. What had he done to deserve this? Sometimes he really wondered why he'd ever been with her or how she could change from the cute nice girl to this reckless bitch.  
  
Zeke was in an unusually good and friendly mood today. He walked down the hallway towards Miss Burke's classroom, when somebody grabbed his arm: "Zeke, can I talk to you?" A look to the side told him it was Casey. The boy looked terrible. His face was tired and he seemed really jumpy, when he pulled the taller boy towards the bathroom.  
  
"What's up, Case?" Zeke wanted to know. Whatever it was, this wasn't good.  
  
"Come in here." His friend pulled him inside the bathroom, checked to see whether anybody was there and then stared at him. His blue eyes didn't reveal anything.  
  
So Zeke asked:"What the f@# is the matter?"  
  
Casey looked to his feet as if he could find the answer there: "Nothing, I just wanted to ask you something."  
  
"Shoot!"  
  
"Can I have some Scat?" he bit his nails.  
  
"What?!" Zeke smirked, then his expression got serious: "You can't be serious."  
  
"I am, can I have some, please. How much is it?" he got uncomfortably close to Zeke.  
  
The older boy slowly pushed him away: "Hang on, I don't sell that stuff to my friends."  
  
"C'mon."  
  
Zeke squinted as if he could read Casey's mind this way: "What's the matter, Casey. Since when do you take drugs?"  
  
Casey shuffled his feet nervously: "I don't."  
  
"So why now?"  
  
His friend turned away from him and faced the bathroom wall.  
  
Zeke could see his back getting tense.  
  
After a while Casey admitted: "Delilah and me have problems."  
  
Zeke on the contrary loosened up a bit. He looked to the ceiling, sighed an rubbed the back of his head: "Fuck, I almost thought., I don't know." Then he looked at Casey with intense brown eyes. He almost wanted to say: 'That's why I don't get involved in that kind of relationship.' But instead he said: "Scat won't solve that. If you want to, we can talk about it during lunch break. I got Ms. Burke now." He gave him a clap on the shoulder and left the bathroom.  
  
Behind the door, that swung shut, Casey could feel rage, icy rage, that he had never felt before. The silence in the room became unbearable. With unknown force his fist hit the bathroom door leaving the small glass insert spiderweblike broken.  
  
TBC - please read and review - I just love those goodies. By the way, you can write good and bad stuff-er, especially good stuff, yeah. 


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